We, Programmers: A Chronicle of Coders from Ada to AI

13

The Eighties

The baby boomers are past 30 now and are approaching the peak of their power. The yuppies have matured. It is “Morning in America.” And things are looking up pretty much across the board. It was as though nothing much could go wrong. Moore’s law was in full force. The internet grew. By the end of the decade, the Web would be born at CERN, the Berlin Wall would fall, the Cold War would end, and the long-endured threat of a nuclear holocaust would fade like a barely remembered nightmare.

1980

Teradyne Central had been very successful selling the 4-TEL system to General Telephone and United Telephone. These were multimillion-dollar sales contracts, and they allowed our company to grow and expand. But we had made no inroads at all ...